The telecom ad war is back! This time it is Jio v/s Vodafone

In the war of words between India's telecom majors, it seems to have become Jio versus the rest. And it isn't necessarily limited to writing to the advertising watchdog to have an advertisement pulled off or in the form of complaints to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

In yesterday's IPL match between Mumbai Indias and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mumbai's Wankehde Stadium, the 'Jio' wave was a classic example of ambush marketing. Vodafone, one of its major competitors, is one of the presenting sponsors of IPL 2017.

This comes even as Airtel is seeking the telecom regulator TRAI's intervention on the Jio's new Dhan Dhana Dhan offer, claiming that it is a violation and disregard of TRAI's directive.

"It violates the spirit of the TRAI directive and essentially continues with a similar plan now masquerading under a different name. This is a classic example of old wine in a new bottle," an Airtel spokesperson told PTI.

Airtel has said that the bleeding telcos are at their weakest ever and Jio is making the situation worse. "With a weakened financial position, companies will find it difficult to raise the capital to invest and roll out broadband networks," said the Airtel spokesperson.

Meanwhile, in its latest letter to TRAI on Monday (April 10), Reliance Jio has said incumbent telcos were using "unfair and deceptive" ways and putting together customer retention offers for subscribers willing to leave them using MNP. It said incumbents were offering special tariff vouchers (STV), packs and discounts to influence users who wish to port out of their networks.

Jio has asked the telecom regulator to take "strongest action" and levy the "highest penalty" against Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular for alleged violation of licence rules, telecom tariff orders and mobile number portability (MNP) guidelines; allegations which India's top telcos refuted.